Ethiopian troops were accused yesterday of slitting the throats of seven Somali men during a raid on a Mogadishu mosque that left 21 people dead, including the imam.

The claim by Amnesty International was strongly denied by the Ethiopians. …

“This is a completely fabricated story designed to blackmail the Ethiopian army, one of the most disciplined forces anywhere in the world,” a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign affairs ministry said. …

An Amnesty spokesman said yesterday that its report on the mosque raid was based on numerous interviews with eyewitnesses, family members of the dead, and people who had seen the bodies, as well as local journalists.

Amnesty International refutes statements made by the Ethiopian government on its report about a raid on the Al Hidya Mosque in Mogadishu on 19 April 2008. In the attack, Ethiopian forces killed at least 21 people, including 11 unarmed civilians inside the mosque, and detained at least 40 children and youths, aged 9 to 18. At least 10 others were killed by Ethiopian forces in the vicinity of the mosque.

Reports released by the organization are based on several cross-checked, independent sources such as family members of victims, testimonies gathered at the location, including individuals present in the mosque while the killings took place, and local Amnesty International contacts.

“Deliberately killing civilians is a war crime,” said Amnesty International. “We call on the Ethiopian government to ensure an independent investigation is carried out into the raid on the mosque and the subsequent treatment of those detained by its forces.”

Seven of the 21 killed at the mosque were reported to have had their throats cut, a form of illegal execution practised by Ethiopian troops in Somalia. Amnesty International has documented a pattern of these ‘throat-slitting’ executions, which often occur in security sweeps after attacks on Ethiopian forces in Somalia.

Somali media today reported that forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia have taken 18 of the children and youths detained by the Ethiopian forces at the Al Hidya mosque into custody at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Somali police. An additional 32 children and youths have been released, according to a TFG spokesperson. In line with international standards on the rights of the child, detention should only be as a last resort and for the minimum time possible. Amnesty International calls for the 18 who remain in detention to be charged with a recognized offence and brought before a court, or released.

Amnesty International again calls on the Ethiopian Government to commit to an independent investigation into the killings carried out during and after the Al Hidya mosque raid. Once such an investigation has been made, the findings should be made public and any Ethiopian soldiers implicated in the investigation should be brought to justice in line with international fair trial standards.

A traditional elder in northern Somalia’s Puntland region was arrested by local police Sunday morning after giving an interview to the BBC yesterday, relatives said.

Abdalla Jama Jibril, an elder based in the Puntland town of Galkayo, was taken from his home by Puntland police and transported to an unknown location, his son told Garowe Online.

During his interview with the BBC Somali Service, Mr. Jibril condemned the arbitrary arrests of several Somali civilians by Puntland authorities, some of whom were later extradited to Ethiopia. [ READ: Puntland extradites more Somali civilians to Ethiopian govt: Report]

Mohamed Adan Muse, chairman of the Galkayo-based Abdullahi Isse Human Rights group, has condemned Mr. Jibril’s arrest as a violation upon the right to speak freely.

The human rights group was also very critical of several civilians arrested by Puntland police for yet-unspecified reasons.

All the detained persons were unarmed civilians with clan ties to Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, which has an ethnically Somali population and has been wracked by armed conflict led by Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels since the 1990s.

Last month, two ONLF political officers were the first to be arrested in Puntland and later extradited to Ethiopia.

The government of Puntland denies the allegations, but a senior Puntland army commander reportedly told local media that the regional government has nothing to do with the arrests.

Col. Abdishakur Abdullahi, the acting military commander in Mudug region where Galkayo is based, said Ethiopian security forces have the “permission” to conduct operations in “any part of Somalia.”

The Ethiopian army invaded central and southern Somalia in December 2006 to oust Islamic Courts rulers from Mogadishu and install the weak interim government.

Ethiopia’s repressive government has been widely condemned for gross human rights violations and war crimes, including mass killings in Somalia perpetrated by the Ethiopian army.